Houston Texans: Early mock draft basically says watch Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud in 2022

Is Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud the college quarterback Houston Texans fans need to watch during the 2022 NCAA football season?

Many recent early 2023 NFL Mock Drafts have the Houston Texans having the No. 1 overall pick, and with that pick, the way-too-early consensus is the player that Houston will take is Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Stroud is one of the top-ranked quarterbacks entering the 2022 NCAA Football season, and playing for a powerhouse like Ohio State, the quarterback will have plenty of options at wide receiver and chances with the football to showcase his talent against some of the best competition in the entire country.

Last year, Stroud was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, and a recent mock draft at 247 Sports has the OSU star being selected to the Texans, as this was written in the mock draft by Joel Ryan:

"“Per 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, Stroud will get “ample opportunities” on the national stage in 2022 to prove himself worthy of the Heisman — if not the No. 1 draft spot.”"

Those national opportunities will make it easier for Houston fans to watch the potential top overall pick, and that’s if the Texans (or the Cleveland Browns) are the worst team in the NFL in 2023.

It will be interesting to not only see how the Texans play in 2022 during the regular season, but how current starting quarterback Davis Mills will handle being the starter from the beginning of training camp and into Week 1 of the regular season when Houston hosts the Indianapolis Colts.

If Mills doesn’t show improvement on his play at the end of last season, the case can be made for the Texans to take a quarterback in the first round, plus if Mills doesn’t improve, that most likely means the Texans will have a poor record for a third straight season.

Texans: How good can C.J. Stroud be during the 2022 collegiate season?

Let’s face it, if he stays healthy, Stroud will have an incredible season for Ohio State in ’22. Stroud is an excellent quarterback who can play in the NFL at a high level, and he would be a great player for the Texans to select if there is a need at quarterback.

As for his performance as a freshman in ’21 (12 games), Stroud had the following numbers:

• 317-of-441 for 4,435 passing yards
• 71.9 completion percentage
• 44 touchdown passes and six interceptions
• 186.6 passing efficiency rating
• 10.1 passing yards per attempt
• 9 games of 300-or more passing yards in 2021

There is much more to say about Stroud and his ’21 season, but seeing what he can do as an encore is going to be interesting to watch from afar. In his final game for the ’21 season, in the Rose Bowl, Stroud was 37-of-46 for 573 yards passing with six touchdowns against Utah. In that game, he averaged 12.5 yards per attempt and a passing efficiency rating of 223.8.

Waiting for not only the Texans’ season to start, but the NCAA season is always tough, but once it arrives, please do yourself a favor and just keep track and watch highlights of Stroud.

Even if Mills has a great season and the Texans don’t want to select a quarterback, the Ohio State quarterback is on pace to have a special season, and there is never anything wrong with watching good football on a Saturday afternoon.